Puigdemont and Other Catalonia Separatists Report to Belgian Police (Published 2017)

BRUSSELS — The former president of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, and four former members of his regional government turned themselves in to the Belgian police on Sunday morning, a spokesman for the Brussels prosecutor’s office said.

The spokesman, Gilles Dejemeppe, said that they would be questioned over the next 24 hours by an investigative judge. They were released late Sunday evening, European news services reported, but were prohibited from leaving Belgium without the investigative judge’s permission.

A Spanish judge issued an international arrest warrant on Friday for Mr. Puigdemont and the four former members of his cabinet, who left Catalonia for Brussels. The warrant was sent to the Belgian federal prosecutor.

Mr. Puigdemont told RTBF, a Belgian television broadcaster, on Friday that he was “completely available to cooperate” with the Belgian court system, which he called “the real justice.”

“At this point there are no guarantees of getting a just and independent trial which could escape the enormous pressure and influence of politics on the judicial powers in Spain,” Mr. Puigdemont said.

In total, the Spanish authorities are seeking to prosecute 20 politicians on rebellion and other charges for declaring Catalonia’s independence from Spain last month. Several former members of the Catalan regional government were jailed without bail last week, pending trial.

A Belgian judge will be able to question Mr. Puigdemont and the other four detainees before deciding whether to apply the international arrest warrant. Even if formally arrested at that point, the five could be released with conditions, such as house arrest. The question of extradition will be decided separately.

Mr. Puigdemont’s Belgian lawyer, Paul Bekaert, could not be reached for comment on Sunday, but he said last week that his client would cooperate fully. “If the extradition is approved, then we will definitely go the whole way,” he said.

The whole procedure, including several possibilities for appeal, could take up to two months, Mr. Bekaert said.

As the case moves through the Belgian courts, Mr. Puigdemont could find himself still in Brussels by the time Catalonia holds new regional elections on Dec. 21, as ordered by the Spanish government.

The national committee of his party proposed on Sunday that Mr. Puigdemont still appear on the ballot in December, alongside some of the other politicians who are now jailed in Madrid pending trial. The party, the Catalan European Democratic Party, is also hoping to agree in the coming days to a joint election platform with the other main separatist party, Esquerra Republicana.